The present invention relates generally to inertially powered miniature toy vehicles and, more particularly, to an inertially powered miniature toy car utilizing a horizontally disposed flywheel and tires with sides made out of a low friction material to allow the car to perform side-wheelie stunts.
Numerous miniature toy vehicles have used a flywheel for the purpose of inertially powering the vehicles. For example, such vehicles are disclosed in U.S Pat. No. 4,536,168 issued to Stephens on Aug. 20, 1985; U.S. Pat. No. 4,485,586 issued to Halford et al on Dec. 4, 1984; U.S. Pat. No. 4,443,967 issued to Jones et al on Apr. 24, 1984; U.S. Pat. No. 4,400,908 issued to Nomura on Aug. 30, 1983; U.S. Pat. No. 4,193,223 issued to D'Andrade et al on Mar. 18, 1980; U.S. Pat. No. 3,955,429 issued to Holden on May 11, 1976; and U.S. Pat. No. 2,677,216 issued to Hein on May 4, 1954. In addition, U.S. Pat. No. 3,698,129 issued to Lemelson on Oct. 17, 1972 and U.S. Pat. No. 2,873,553 issued to Ullman on Feb. 17, 1958 discribe the use of horizontally disposed flywheels in the driving motors of toy cars. However, the flywheels used for these cars do not facilitate using the cars for side-wheelie stunts. Finally, U.S. Pat. No. 3,812,933 issued to Darda on May 28, 1974; U.S. Pat. No. 3,772,824 issued to Terzian et al on Nov. 20, 1973; and U.S. Pat. No. 2,560,739 issued to Perez on July 17, 1951 disclose spring driven motors used for toy cars.
None of the above patents discloses a miniature toy car which can be used to perform a "true side-wheelie" stunt. During such a stunt, both wheels on one side of a toy car remain in contact with a supporting surface while the axles of the car approach a vertical position. The car remains in this position without additional physical supports as it moves along its intended path.
A horizontally mounted flywheel with a vertical spin axis disposed near the bottom of a toy car would assist in balancing the car during side-wheelie stunts. In addition, the use of low friction material such as plastic at the sides of the wheels would faciliate side-wheelie stunts since such material would allow the wheels to slide over a supporting surface as the car proceeds along its intended route.